Style guidelines set an ABV range as one part of a broader character description, not as a standalone target — the range exists because real examples of a style genuinely vary in strength, not because there's one "correct" number hiding inside it.
A sample across the spectrum
| Style | ABV range | A real OG/FG example |
|---|---|---|
| American light lager | 2.8-4.2% | 1.032/1.006 |
| American lager | 4.2-5.3% | 1.045/1.008 |
| American pale ale | 4.5-6.2% | 1.052/1.012 |
| American IPA | 5.5-7.5% | 1.062/1.014 |
| Dry Irish stout | 4.0-4.5% | 1.042/1.010 |
| Double/imperial IPA | 7.5-10.2% | 1.075/1.014 |
| Russian imperial stout | 8-12% | 1.095/1.022 |
These ranges come from the style guideline reference, aggregated from the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines and standard homebrew references — the OG/FG examples are illustrative pairs within each style's typical range, not a single official recipe. Check any of them directly through the ABV calculator.
Why the range width itself varies so much by style
American light lager's range (2.8-4.2%) spans less than a percentage and a half; Russian imperial stout's range (8-12%) spans a full four points. This tracks how tightly each style tradition is defined — a light lager is built around a narrow, specific target character (crisp, delicate, low-calorie), while imperial stout has always been a "big, strong, dark" category with more room for individual brewers and breweries to push strength further in either direction without falling outside the accepted style.
Using a style's range to plan a recipe backward
If you're formulating toward a style's ABV range rather than checking a finished beer against it, pick a target FG based on your planned yeast strain's published attenuation (see the yeast reference), then solve for the OG that pairs with your target ABV — see what OG do I need for a 6% beer for that calculation worked through in detail, using the same backward-solving method for any target percentage.
A style range is a description, not a competition requirement for every brewer
Landing outside a style's typical ABV range doesn't make a homebrewed beer wrong or bad — it just means it's brewed outside that style's conventional description, which matters for competition entry and for setting a drinker's expectations, but not for whether the beer itself is good. Check the full style reference for the complete OG/FG/IBU/SRM picture (not ABV in isolation) if you're formulating toward a specific named style rather than just picking a strength target.